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G Pack, Vol. 5

G Pack, Vol. 5 (Digital EP)

Dopp Duo Hoodie (Blue Aqua)

Dopp Duo Hoodie (Mint)

Dopp Duo Hoodie (Light Pink)

The Doppelgangaz Hoodie (Blue Aqua)

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Beats For Brothels, Vol. 6 (Vinyl)

Hark 10 Year Anniversary Special Edition (Vinyl)

Black Cloak Lifestyle (Vinyl)

BFBV3.5 (Vinyl)

AAAAGGGHH (CD)

Dopp Hopp (CD)

Beats For Brothels, Vol. 3 (CD)

Beats For Brothels, Vol. 1 (CD)

G Pack, Vol. 5 (Instrumentals) [Digital EP]

Beats For Brothels, Vol. 7 (Digital Album)

G Pack, Vol. 4 (Instrumentals) [Digital EP]

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Prepare for an unstoppable performance with The Doppelgangaz tickets. The artist is commanding the rap and hip-hop genre with dynamic live shows. Since its emergence in the borough of Bronx, New York, the rap hip-hop movement came on the scene in the 1970s. Drawing on sociocultural influences, the genre is known for lyrical content that speaks from experience. Born out of the struggles faced by African American and Latino communities, the genre has become one of the most diverse and universally expressive genres in music today. In addition to its spoken word rap and poetic stylizations, it is often backed by DJ turntables synthesizers and drum machines.

Artistically divided into popular sub-genres like hardcore old school and gangsta rap, a bevy of notable artists have brought rap hip-hop to the masses. From tried and true legends to emerging phenoms, the genre continues to boast the best music has to offer. Artists like Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Nicki Minaj and Jay-Z are just a few famous names in a string of successful performers. Buy your The Doppelgangaz tickets from TicketSmarter today and get ready to be entertained.

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The Doppelgangaz ticket prices usually land in a moderate range of pricing. Getting into a live show can average around the $50 range. Prime spots will typically run upwards of $100 and VIP packages at festivals held at prominent venues can go for over $1,000.

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The Doppelgangaz Tour Dates & Concert Schedule

It’s common to catch The Doppelgangaz appearing at large-scale venues across the United States. You can expect performances from popular platforms like the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California and major hip-hop music events like SXSW and Rolling Loud Festival Miami at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

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Since the release of The Ghastly Duo EP in 2008, the Doppelgangaz have been steadily building one of the most beguiling worlds in rap. Based in upstate New York—which they dub “Parts Unknown”—group members EP and Matter Ov Fact don full-length black cloaks as their sartorial calling card, and preach to a committed fanbase who call themselves the Shark Nation. In their lyrics, Dopp Gang reference kooky medical conditions, cop to off-kilter sexual habits, brag about gourmand-level food situations, and offer encouragement to those who feel like they’ve been shunted to outsider status in society. Their lyrics are usually paired with production that’s anchored in dusty, static-caked beats—though, on later releases, the duo has increasingly embraced melody.

AAAAGGGHH is the newest installment of the The Doppelgangaz chronicles. EP says the 11-track project is sonically inspired by Dr. Dre’s work—although, in true contrarian spirit, he adds, “We’re pulling from like ’96, ’97 Dre that people don’t like—the Firm, flop-type Dre. G-funk was kinda fading, and they were figuring out what to do next, but there’s the remnants, and it’s a little dark.” The album details the intricacies of the black cloak lifestyle (“B.C.M.T.F.O.”), offers up benevolent pleas to the rap gods (“Highly Favored”), and considers how phone addiction regularly makes everyday situations sexual (“Screen Fatigue”). As Matter Ov Fact puts it, “It’s like watching try-on hauls with a chick getting a whole bunch of outfits to put on one after the other—it’s for other women to see, but, real talk, everything gets perverted eventually.”

We met EP and Matter Ov Fact at a bar in Astoria, Queens, where they gave us a tour of their discography, beginning with their most accessible album, and then tackling their back catalog in chronological order.

EP : I would say Peace Kehd is a good introductory album. It has one of our biggest songs on there, ‘Holla x2.’ The album’s shorter, so you can get right to the meat and potatoes of it.

Matter Ov Fact : I knew ‘Holla x2’ was gonna do well. He showed me the sample and the beat he was messing with, and when I’m hype, I can put myself in the listener’s seat.

EP : You were like, ‘Give me 10 minutes, I’m out of here, I’ve gotta write some shit.’ I knew something was going down, but I actually struggled; I think I wrote three verses. I felt like I psyched myself out. But it’s a good pressure. I also like that the song also doesn’t have a real chorus on there—it’s us talking shit, and then the ‘Holla holla’ thing is there. The production is a weird combination—this piano loop with this Middle Eastern dude saying ‘Holla holla,’ but the sample is not saying that—I chopped it from the end of the word.

Matter Ov Fact : Peace Kehd has this relaxed vibe.

EP : It starts out with this super peaceful beat, then there’s bombs going off: It’s a representation of life—like, when things are going well, that’s when things can get fucked. We also have ‘Live Rugged’ and ‘Ungodly’—just look at the titles, being not of god!

Matter Ov Fact : Peace Kehd is heavily influenced by [entourage member] Big Josh, like he was telling us about some chick who was telling him that what he does is not ‘Of God.’ Big Josh will just call you up on something, and it makes you want to write. Every time I talk to him, I have to write something down. I have a million Big Josh quotes that have to manifest into rhyme one day.

The Ghastly Duo EP

Matter Ov Fact : I saw Avengers: Infinity War the other day, and it made me think how we wanted our first project to be our Ironman . We wanted to start the Dopp Gang audio universe with this.

EP : Get you acquainted with us and our world.

Matter Ov Fact : We knew how seriously we wanted to take things. It’s a nice little introduction. We put that out when MySpace was around. I remember that night like it was yesterday: Josh took those pictures at a bus stop in our old neighborhood. We were excited for the future. It was the foundation, the beginning. I think Robert Downey Jr. was somewhere involved.

EP : I remember it being a time where the future was so unknown. I remember us just saying, ‘Let’s get a collection to put out to get our name out there and then we can start working on an actual full length.’ At first, Ghastly Duo was released as a Mediafire link!

Matter Ov Fact : We didn’t even sell it.

2012: The New Beginning

Matter Ov Fact : With the album title, I think we were just obsessed with the world ending—there was a Mayan calendar thing at the time. It was playing off of that. People dead-ass thought that was about to happen.

EP : I had a whole post-apocalyptic cellar of canned goods.

Matter Ov Fact : It reminded me of Y2K all over again.

EP : He alludes to that on the album, having a survival kit, canned goods, and bottled water. We were obsessed with it, because we thought it was ridiculous. Also around that time we really got into ball powder. People make powders specifically for your nuts. It was big for us to talk about that. We would ask ourselves, ‘Did you throw on powder today?’

Matter Ov Fact : ‘How hot is it? You need powder?’ That kinda inspired the song ‘Good Hygiene.’

EP : The production across the album is cool, man. For me, there were so many years where we didn’t know about sampling. It was a bunch of years leading up to these projects so it was all about original beats [at first], and this was us just having a field day with a lot of samples. This album was us going digging. I mean that loosely—we don’t go searching for $400 records—but these are our first experiences with seeing what we could find in dollar bins. We had a couple of local spots plus we were doing a lot of open mics in the East Village so we’d dig there. This is the beginnings of us really going hard with samples.

Matter Ov Fact : Sometimes you get lucky and find some weird local stuff and you know you’re the only person on Earth listening to that right now. That’s beautiful.

EP : We haven’t changed equipment since then, although the Numark USB turntable just died on us. Reason is still the software, and we have an Akai MPK25, just a really small pad and MIDI controller. Speaking of equipment, there was an original version of ‘Smoke Mics’ that we lost, so if I could go back I’d like to find that. Also, before ‘Here We Go’ there’s an interlude with the same sample, and I really like that beat—I would rap over that right now.

Lone Sharks

EP : This is the album that got us attention. At the time, we didn’t feel like anyone gave a fuck.

Matter Ov Fact : I would say we were hyped in the process of making Lone Sharks . We had some of the coolest samples and weird shit and ideas we were working on, and we were extremely excited. To us, you couldn’t tell us we weren’t signed to Atlantic—we were locked in like this is about to be poppin’.

EP : The crazy thing is, a lot of these beats we started with inspired the song ideas, but then we scrapped them and made the real album. Only ‘Rap $ Unemployment’ remained unchanged. It was because we got new records [to sample]. We got a nice batch. ‘Doppel Gospel,’ which is the most sought-after sample we have, we got that from a local spot that’s out of business, and it’s a home recording—this is a self-release that this dude did and I will leave it at that.

Matter Ov Fact : Pretty much every time we made a song, we would listen to the ‘Suppository’ beat afterwards and say, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to work on this.’ We had it in the stash, but we held off on that.

EP : Before we recorded ‘Dumpster Diving,’ I remember reading a lot of articles on people dumpster diving. It was a real craze, and it inspired us to talk about that. I remember in the Bay Area, a lot of people were doing it not just for home use, but they were saying people were trying to do pop-up restaurants using food from the dumpsters.

Matter Ov Fact : ‘Dumpster Diving’ just describes how we were living, and the mentality. At one point, we were all about having the hottest shit that just came out; I thought I was Juelz Santana in 12th grade. I used to work at laser tag, $6 an hour, and I’d spend the whole check on one jersey from the NBA store. I worked two weeks just to buy one jersey! So it was making that switch to wearing some plain hoodie, some shit you got for less than $10.

EP : A big mentality switch. In the ‘Doppel Gospel’ video, we were wearing those Fruit of the Loom T-shirts. I’m wearing one now! But that was the goal, to introduce the black cloak lifestyle. It was about taking control: We realized if you want to get anything done making music, you’ve got to sacrifice everything.

Matter Ov Fact : Hark has ‘Barbiturates,’ which is our most successful song. We never chose it to be a single, but people were hitting us up about it. We shot the video five months after the album came out. These days, listeners dictate what’s a single. You hear about artists investing wild money into a song, and it kinda falls on deaf ears. Then you hear about, like, song number 13 on the album that everybody loves, and they make a video of it.

EP : ‘Antidote’ by Travis Scott wasn’t even supposed to be on his album—people just loved it.

Matter Ov Fact : My initial thoughts about writing to the ‘Barbiturates’ beat was not morbid, but that it would be on the line—like it could go either way. My verse isn’t a sad verse, but I’m talking about how to improve your situation. When I heard it and started writing to it, I took it as a prompt to try and make things better. There’s that angelic voice [sampled in the track].

EP : My dad seems to think it’s the female voice in there that everyone likes. He tells me, ‘You need more female voices in there!’

Matter Ov Fact : Every song from here on out!

EP : This album has our most successful song but also the most polarizing song we’ve ever made, ‘Skin Yarmulke.’ It’s because of the amount of static sampled on the song—and I love the idea we inserted more static! It’s a dilapidated, nasty record, so that’s what it is.

Matter Ov Fact : We made that song at the end of everything. We were just messing with the record and we heard these notes we liked and we wrote this shit quickly. When we do that song live though, it goes over good.

EP : It’s ominous, it has a nice intro feel. I feel like at the show, the bass takes over. I never hear anyone complain at the show—it’s at home and listening through headphones, that’s the reason people fight over this song. I think it’s texture, it’s another element to listen to. I never thought it was that problematic. People are like, ‘Cool song, but can you just tone down the static?’

Parts Unknown

EP : We got Jim Jones on ‘Jail Weight.’ It’s an old connection we’ve had. When we were in high school, we were big Diplomats fans, and we’d read a lot of credits, and when Cam’ron dropped S.D.E. , the main producer on there was Darrell ‘Digga’ Branch, who also did 50 Cent’s ‘Many Men.’ Digga was forward-thinking enough to put his website as his album credit, and this was like 2004. So we checked out the website, saw what he looked like, and we actually saw him in a mall but I didn’t approach him. I wrote him an email, and two months later he responded, said he liked our beats, and sort of mentored us. We’ve had connects with him since then, and we were able to hit him up and asked if we could get Jim on the track. He helped make it happen. We’ve had connects with him since then, and we were able to hit him up [via his manager Salt] and asked if we could get Jim on the track.

Matter Ov Fact : We always loved Jim Jones’s voice.

EP : We said, ‘This is the premise of the song—do you think Jim could talk some shit?’ Say no more!

Matter Ov Fact : On Parts Unknown , I always knew the ‘Scintilla’ beat was gonna be poppin’. I mention George Westinghouse school [where The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, and DMX went] because I was thinking about all the talent passing through that one building.

EP : We’re infatuated with the rap industry pre-social media, like how all these guys know each other and run in circles with each other, and in a matter of a year can go from best friends to beefing. It’s so interesting, so crazy. Also, the cover photo [by Alexander Richter] is actually shot on an iPhone. It ended up being such an epic shot.

EP : To me, this is a statement piece. It’s us getting our music right, us getting our business right, us getting out mindstate right. It’s a power switch. It’s the beginnings of us getting everything just right in our life, hence why we made 15 songs, no interludes. Also, this album made it by the grace of God—we could barely bounce the mixes, the computer was dying, man!

Matter Ov Fact : If AAAAGGGHH is the resurrection, this is the sacrifice right here. We had to do a lot to get this shit made.

EP : Petting the computer to bounce the mix, hoping it would work. It was an iMac from 2009. This album made it out by the grace of the rap gods.

Matter Ov Fact : I think this is the sacrifice for the new life and we let it all hang out.

EP : We actually thought maybe fans wouldn’t like it but it was so well-received.

Matter Ov Fact : We never assume anybody’s gonna like anything, but we were surprised by the instant praise we got. Like ‘Rapamycin’ is one of our more popular songs right now. It’s a lot of different styles on here.

EP : ‘Rapamycin’ is the song to get you into Dopp Hopp . I remember being in Australia and the song wasn’t fully finished and we were thinking about teasing it. I remember the overwhelming feeling of, ‘We like this song so much, and it’s not even done yet.’

Matter Ov Fact : ‘Olympics’ and ‘I’ve Been’ were played on Dr. Dre’s radio show The Pharmacy. We asked our distributor how that happened, and they didn’t know.

EP : I think Dre chose it.

-Phillip Mlynar

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Tuesday 11 April 2023

The Doppelgangaz: ‘Black Cloak Lifestyle Tour’ 2023

HÄKKEN (Klubhaus St. Pauli), Hamburg, Germany

Line-up: The Doppelgangaz

• The Doppelgangaz

Spielbudenplatz 21-22 20359 Hamburg, Germany

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Doors open: 19:00

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• Saturday October 19, 2024 Taby Pilgrim, Peat, Thizzy, and DAS INTERNET HÄKKEN (Klubhaus St. Pauli), Hamburg
• Friday February 07, 2025 Curse Uebel & Gefährlich, Hamburg

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TAG | Astrakhan oblast

Colorful summer sunset in the volga river delta.

No comments · Posted by Sergei Rzhevsky in Nature , Photos , Regions

These picturesque photos were taken on one hot summer evening in the Volga River delta somewhere in the Astrakhan region . The delta of the Volga is the largest river delta in Europe and the 8th in the world.

Due to the lowering of the level of the Caspian Sea, the delta area has increased ninefold over the past 130 years. The unique flora and fauna of the delta (sturgeon, lotus, flamingo, Siberian cranes, pelicans) are under state protection as the Astrakhan Nature Reserve. Photos by: Fedor Lashkov .

beautiful nature scenery

Tags:  Astrakhan oblast

Baskunchak – a unique salt lake

No comments · Posted by Sergei Rzhevsky in Nature , Regions , Travel

Baskunchak is a salt lake, with an area of about 115 square km, located in Akhtubinskiy district of Astrakhan region , about 270 km north of the Caspian Sea and 53 km to the east of the Volga River.

Salt extraction on the lake began in the 8th century. Lake Baskunchak was officially mentioned first time in 1627 in the first geographical description of Russia as a place “where they mine salt as pure as ice.” The view of the lake from the satellite . The photos were taken by Richard Zorge .

two in one – the lake and the desert

Tags:  Astrakhan oblast · landscapes

Salt Lake Baskunchak

Baskunchak is a salt lake located in Astrakhan region , about 270 km north of the Caspian Sea, and 53 km to the east of the Volga River.

The lake is a kind of hollow on top of the salt mountain. Numerous springs flow into the lake on the north-west coast bringing in the lake more than 2.5 thousand tons of salts per day. Baskunchak Lake location on Google Maps . Photos by Denis Frantsouzov

unusual colors of salt lake

Abandoned ship made of concrete

No comments · Posted by Sergei Rzhevsky in Photos , Technology

It seems you can find everything in Russia. For example, this unusual ship made of concrete found its last haven in the lower reaches of the Volga ( Astrakhan region ), a few kilometers from the Caspian Sea.

The hull of the ship is made of reinforced concrete. Those parts of the hull where concrete couldn’t be used were made of iron. This ship is not unique. In a number of countries different concrete ships were designed and built during periods of acute shortage of metal. Photos by zhgalin_photo

(more…)

Unique nature of Astrakhan oblast

2 Comments · Posted by Sergei Rzhevsky in Nature , Photos , Regions

The nature of Astrakhan region is unique for Russia. Nowhere else in the country will you be able to find a territory composed of semi-deserts and deserts, where camels live, and the most famous Russian river Volga carries its waters.

Astrakhan oblast is located in the south-east of the East European Plain. The region is situated in the Caspian lowland where the Volga River flows into the Caspian Sea. The region stretches over 400 km in the form of a narrow stripe. Photos by GeoSerzh

Overcoming the mud – trophy-sprint “Autumn Marathon”

No comments · Posted by Alex Smirnov in Entertainment , People , Video

Seven tanks of water were poured on the track in a clay quarry by the organizers of “Autumn Marathon” – a trophy-sprint held annually in the village Assadulaevo, Astrakhan oblast .

September 17, 2011 the competition was attended by 17 crews from Volgograd and Astrakhan . There were almost no high-speed sections on the track. The key events unfolded in the artificially flooded pits.

One of the highest sand dunes in Astrakhan oblast

Astrakhan oblast is situated in Caspian lowland where Volga River flows into Caspian Sea. The largest part of Astrakhan oblast is occupied by semideserts. But some parts of the region are looking like the real desert and here is an example.

It is “Big Brother” – one of the largest and highest barkhans in Astrakhan oblast. The height of this sand dune is about 20 meters. Photos by  Maxim Korotchenko .

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I visited Astrakhan, the Russian MELTING POT of religions and ETHNICITIES (PHOTOS)

When we entered the ATR-72 twin engine turboprop aircraft for our evening flight from Sochi to Astrakhan, my friend Olga and I were a bit surprised to see the ethnic mix of passengers on board. Nordic, Southern European, Caucasian, Central Asian, West Asian and “typical Russian” features were all visible on the two-hour flight to the city by the Volga. As we were to find out over the next three days, Astrakhan, which has a population of 526,000, is home to members of 104 of Russia’s 120 ethnicities. 

Ajay and his friend Olga on a cold morning

The small airport is just a 15-minute drive away from the city center and we were lucky to find an apartment in a well maintained Stalin-era building literally across the street from the Astrakhan kremlin.  

Walk around the city at night  

Our first task was to try out the much-hyped Caspian cuisine of the city.  Although it was only 9:30 pm on a Friday, the beautifully landscaped area that is near Lenin Square and borders the Kremlin was almost empty. Tastefully lit, the area had a distinct Mediterranean feel. With a bearable cold breeze and crystal clear air, I found the surroundings to be romantic, but my travel partner said she had an eerie feeling, since we hadn’t seen any others in the street. 

As we walked towards the riverside, we found our first Caspian-themed restaurant. Olga managed to calm down over a bottle of white wine and some local delicacies, such as sturgeon from the Volga Delta and ukha , which many restaurants label as the Tsar’s fish soup in their English menus.  

Astrakhan at night

The main activity at night in Astrakhan revolves around the streets leading to the Volga riverfront. This is where the youth of the city go clubbing or bar hopping. There were signs of nightlife in this stretch of the city, but we had seen far bigger crowds in much smaller Russian cities. Locals later told us that they took the pandemic more seriously than their counterparts in other parts of the country and, hence, there were so few people on the streets. 

Feel the diversity on display at the Kremlin 

On my first morning in the city, I set off on an exploratory run and was absolutely impressed with the city center. The square that was empty the previous night was a hub of exercise and sporting activity. Under clear blue skies and warm sun, I saw well-looked after flower beds and trees that had leaves of every fall color. The season of colors had come and gone from the northern parts of Russia in a hurry in 2021, but Astrakhan was still in mid-fall mode in November.  

Church in the Astrakhan kremlin

Later that morning, we decided to explore the impressive white Kremlin that towers over the city center. Standing on the Zayachy Hill, this massive fortress was originally built in the late 16th century and has been modified a few times since. Entry to the Kremlin, which opens at 7 am, is free and there are stalls where you can buy local handicrafts. I couldn’t resist buying a handcrafted wooden fridge magnet with an engraved image of this ancient fortress.  

The Kremlin is a great place to just roam around or sit on a bench and enjoy the great historical ambience, like many locals do, but we wanted to know more about this fascinating and well-preserved monument. So, we took a guided tour of the complex - in a golf cart! The modern-day Astrakhan Region was contested between various groups and empires until the middle of the 16th century, when it became a part of the southward-expanding Russian Empire. A knowledgeable guide shared many historical facts about the Kremlin and the city with us. 

After our tour, we were in for an unexpected audio visual treat. As the sun fought the grey fall clouds and warmed up the temperature to 18°C and the bells tolled from the Assumption Cathedral, a group of teenagers in various ethnic costumes came to the area near the church. Over the next 20 minutes, the colorful group performed a series of dances that reflected the cultures of various ethnic groups who call Astrakhan home.  

Astrakhan's Assumption Cathedral

We first saw a Russian folk dance, followed by a Tatar dance and then a performance of the indigenous peoples who inhabit Astrakhan Region. We were lucky to be in the Kremlin on the day the city was marking Russian National Unity Day . 

This ethnic diversity can be seen everywhere in Astrakhan, but nowhere it is more visible than in restaurants and bars, where you see groups of people from different backgrounds socialising and making merry.  

Ajay at the Astrakhan kremlin

Astrakhan is also known for its religious diversity. We went to two recently-renovated mosques that are just outside the historic city center. Non-Muslims are allowed to visit at non-prayer times. There seemed to be a strong Persian influence in the interior of these mosques, which is not surprising, given the fact that Iran is just across the Caspian Sea. The city also has an Iranian consulate and a Russian-Iranian banking joint venture. Some of the stores in the city sell imported Iranian candy. 

During our three-day stay in the city, we had a chance to get acquainted with people from Dagestan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. For those from other Caspian states, Astrakhan is seen as a logical entry point to Russia. In fact, several students from former Soviet countries study in the city.  

Enjoy the unique architecture  

The most interesting feature of Astrakhan is that no two streets in the historic center seem to resemble each other. A street full of early 1900s brownish-red brick structures is cut in half by a thoroughfare that has buildings that are a mix of Art Nouveau, Renaissance and Classicist architecture! Similarly, a walk by the outer walls of the 16th century Kremlin offers views of 19th century buildings that seem to have been transplanted from St. Petersburg.  

Tastefully restored building in Astrakhan

Long-term residents say many of the heritage structures in the city were in a state of disrepair, until a decade ago, when Russian President Vladimir Putin took a personal interest in reviving the city, given its strategic location close to the Caspian Sea.  

The victory of the Soviet Union in the Battle of Stalingrad and the resulting halt of German troops advances into southern Russia helped save the older buildings of Astrakhan during World War II. The radius around the Kremlin and riverfront are European in character, but once you cross the canal, a totally different side of the city opens up. These areas have ethnic Persian and Tatar localities, locally known as ‘sloboda’. One gets a feeling of crossing over into an altogether different century when strolling past these areas with their wooden cottages and cosy courtyards.  

While there is a strong sense of community here, the area is lower middle class and, unfortunately, did not seem to have any ethnic Tatar or Persian-style cafes. We were told that the best place to sample this kind of food was the Tatar Bazar, which we could not visit. Locals in these ethnic enclaves apparently preferred to either cook at home or eat at food courts in shopping malls.  

A wooden house outside the center (L); One of Astrakhan's older churches

The classical Russian neighbourhoods in Astrakhan have a wide array of dining options, including an elegant restaurant named ‘Onegin’ (named after Alexander Pushkin’s famous novel in verse ‘Eugene Onegin’), which has 19th century style interiors, chandeliers, paintings of the greats of Russian literature and plays the music of Russian composers Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky. Plenty of other restaurants are themed around the Caspian Sea.  

Spend an evening by the Volga 

It goes without saying that the best place to spend an evening in the city is the riverside promenade. Runners, bicyclists, families, university students and pensioners all converge on this stretch in the early evening, as another day heads off into the night.  

The small islands that are visible from the promenade are home to a variety of birds that rush to find shelter in the trees before nightfall. As the river runs south towards the Caspian, nature is absolutely breathtaking. Visitors to Astrakhan in the warmer months often head to the Volga Delta, which is a biodiversity hotspot and home to various species of flora and fauna.   

We made it a point to catch the sunset by the Volga twice during our brief visit. Few experiences in Russia compare with seeing the red sun set behind the country’s most iconic river. The ensuing twilight paints the skies of Astrakhan with a unique shade of crimson.  

Astrakhan with Olga

Standing by the riverfront on my last evening in the city, my gaze went to the left, where some 100 kilometers south the great Volga empties into the Caspian Sea. This area has always been a major transit point connecting north and south, east and west. For several hundred years, it was the intersection of the east-west trade route north of the Caspian Sea and the north-south trade route down the Volga to Persia. I couldn’t help but think how the city had the potential to become a major business, logistics and tourism hub, if Russia, India, Iran and the Caspian littoral countries put a fresh impetus on developing the International North-South Corridor.   

Astrakhan, as it is, is still a special place where several cultures meet and blend. As a melting pot of religions and ethnicities, no city in Russia (outside of Moscow) represents the sheer diversity of this colossally large country as well as Astrakhan. The city’s communal harmony and amity set an example for many other parts of the world that are struggling to deal with the close interaction of various ethnic groups. 

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